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From the attempt to impeach Bill Clinton to the 2000 elections and George W. Bush's presidency, American politics has been marked by controversy. American Politics and Society Today analyses these events and provides a lively and authoritative analysis of contemporary politics in the United States. Bringing together a series of leading scholars, the volume comprises ten important, engaging and critical essays on the complex character of America's divided democracy. Challenging conventional textbook wisdoms, the collection provides new interpretations on American government institutions, public policies and popular culture from jazz and rap to The Simpsons and South Park. Consistently stimulating, readable and provocative, the book allows readers to make their own informed and dispassionate assessment of the current state of the ls"American experiment'. American Politics and Society Today will be of substantial interest to undergraduate and graduate students of American politics and history, comparative politics, public policy and cultural studies.

Robert Singh is Lecturer in Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London.

List of Tables

vii

List of Contributors

viii

Editor's Preface

x

Acknowledgements

xii

Introduction: Dubya's Divided Democracy

1

(9)

Robert Singh

Reaching across the Atlantic: Ideological Aspiration and Institutional Constraints in the United States and Britain

10

(19)

Marc Stears

A New Electoral Disorder? The American Elections of 2000

29

(27)

Robert Singh

Race, Representation and Elections: The Politics of Parties and Courts

56

(24)

Paul Frymer

`If You're Disgusted with Us, I Don't Blame You': Television and American Politics Today

80

(21)

Robert Mason

The Rehnquist Court's Partial Revolution

101

(17)

Paul Martin

The Presidency and Congress: A Trifocal Approach

118

(28)

Nigel Bowles

The Politics of Power-Sharing: The Case of Welfare Overhaul

146

(25)

Fiona Ross

Does Gender Matter? Women in American Politics

171

(16)

Abigail Halcli

Multiculturalism and the End of Jazz

187

(19)

Desmond King

Julian Murphet

Subverting American Values? The Simpsons, South Park and the Cartoon Culture War